Trail of Cthulhu: Boundless Deceptions

Session 1

17

SEP/15

In the first session, Janet Winston-Rogers summoned a small team of investigators together to look into the strange circumstances of her father’s life and death.

The Investigators
Emma Creston – A nurse with a strong sense of duty and deep compassion for humanity
Lt. John Murphy – Retired police officer, a little gruff and rough around the edges, but his experience with the darker side of human nature will come in handy.
Malcolm Tate – Private Investigator, fallen on hard times since the Depression hitVivienne Wraith – Personal acquaintance of Janet W-R. She is herself an heiress, world-traveler, and student of the occult

Recap
The group met Janet Winston-Rogers in her private airplane hangar outside of Arkham, Mass. to discuss the arrangements. Janet told them her father’s story, or however much she knew of it. She gave them a bundle of letters to her father by a man in Savannah, Georgia named Douglas Henslowe. The letters were her only lead.

She lent the use of her private plane and pilot, as well as a retainer to cover the investigators’ various expenses.

The team flew to Savannah, and tracked down the return address of the most recent letters from Henslowe. The address led them to Joy Grove Sanitarium, where Henslowe was a patient. They learned he was voluntarily committed, and had had a short period not too long ago where he’d gone back to live at home, before coming back to Joy Grove. They interviewed Henslowe, who gave them some additional information about Walter Winslow and their own group of investigators, as well as a note permitting them access to his home and grounds. He told them he had written a journal and hidden it at his home.

The team also learned that Joy Grove housed another man, Edgar Job, who had also been involved in the strange events of 1924. After speaking to him, they learned that he’d been in some sort of cult, led by a man named Echavarria, which involved drug and sex parties. He had been introduced to Echavarria by a man named George Ayers from UCLA. He claimed that Echavarria studied the occult and wanted to summon a being called Gol-Goroth, or the Fisher from Outside which was supposed to grant them power. He believes that Echavarria cast spells upon him. He claims that the night of the 1924 incident, the cult was practicing the summoning ritual, involving the sex and drugs. But what they summoned was not what they expected. When Winston’s investigators came in with guns and fire, chaos erupted. The being they had summoned killed people; Echavarria was shot and killed by a man whom Edgar Job stabbed to death before he fled for his life. That is what he remembers, but acknowledges that the doctor says it is a delusion and he is on nine different pills. After sneaking into the file room, the Investigators discover that Job’s residence at Joy Grove is being funded by the Hesnslowe estate.

While touring Joy Grove, Emma Creston was attacked and bitten by a patient. Malcolm Tate imagined he saw a writhing mouth on a wall, but it turned out to be peeling plaster. On further investigation, he noticed symbols etched into the plaster, which Vivienne recognized as various occult protection symbols.